A portion of Russ Robinson's beer tap handle collection is pictured at Choice City Butcher & Deli at 104 W. Olive St. on Dec. 7. Robinson is the owner of the business. / Rich Abrahamson/The Coloradoan

Follow the Brew Trail

Sitting in his restaurant on a recent afternoon, surrounded by a wall of more than 100 tap handles, Russ Robinson carefully displays a unique skeleton figure that looks more like a tiny statue than a method of beer delivery.

The Choice City Butcher & Deli owner recalls how he pieced together the custom-made tap handle for a special keg of Avery Mephistopheles’ Stout.

When he got the keg it didn’t include a tap, so Robinson built the large handle that includes a hooded skeleton surrounded by skulls. The finishing touch was two candles that Robinson would light anytime someone ordered the beer.

While Robinson’s skeleton candelabra tap is unorthodox, it garners what every brewer wants out of its tap handles — attention.

Walk into any beer bar or restaurant in Fort Collins and take a moment to examine the — in some cases — dozens of taps that line the wall. Many are like little works of art meant to set themselves apart from the rest of the beers on the wall.

At the same time, brands strive to provide a sense of uniformity so that beer drinkers can identify a certain brewery just by the shape or color of its tap handles.

New Belgium Brewing Co. has developed one of the more recognizable tap handles in the state over the years. It is no mistake that the tap handles are highly visible to New Belgium fans.

Melyssa Glassman, New Belgium creative director, said the brewery works with a Denver agency to create the bike-rim style tap handle for its beers. While not actual bike rims, the Denver company creates the molds for the taps that include recycled aluminum.

The plates, which tell what beer is on tap, are interchangeable with each tap handle and are meant to be switched without having to change the actual tap.

When a tap is retired, Glassman said New Belgium field representatives, or beer Rangers, try to return them to the brewery to be recycled and used for a variety of products such as ornaments and bracelets.

Robinson, who has 37 taps and goes through about 15 kegs a week, has a vast collection of tap handles he has accumulated over the years.

(Page 2 of 2)

His taps have played host to a number of one-off and unique craft beers in the nine years he has served beer along with his deli meats and sandwiches.

Robinson started displaying some of his favorites along the walls in the restaurant, with the help of Denver beer bar Falling Rock Taphouse owner Chris Black.

For years Robinson kept old tap handles in a box until one day Black suggested they make a proper display. Robinson said he went to Black’s woodworking studio to build the racks upon which the tap handles are now displayed.

“It’s a symbol of your company,” said Robinson of the tap handles. “Tap handles sell beer, and more and more people are doing extraordinary tap handles.”

Seattle-based Taphandles LLC., which produces tap handles for breweries ranging from Breckenridge Brewery to Carlsberg, states on its website that great tap handles end up pouring more beer.

Which naturally leads to the question of whether a beer drinker can judge a beer by its tap handle. Ultimately, Robinson said the beer stands on its own apart from how ornate the tap is, but people are drawn to unique taps.

Black has been collecting tap handles for more than 15 years and has 700 displayed on the wall at his bar Falling Rock, 1919 Blake St., in Denver.

“They are colorful and bring back a lot of memories,” said Black, who has 90 beers on tap and rotates some of them five to six times a week.

Customers like to wander through the bar and take pictures of taps that bring back memories of favorite beers, Black said. While there are some collectors who try to buy the handles, he said the market for secondhand tap handles is still fledgling because the items are relativity new to the brewing world. Black noted the handles can cost from $25 to $50 to make. Odell Brewing Co. and New Belgium both sell their tap handles online for collectors.

At the same time, Fruits said at least five times a week someone comes in and tries to buy a Grimm Brothers tap handle. Grimm, due to expansion, can’t spare any tap handles to sell to the public right now, Fruits said.

“We have people who like our beer and nowadays everyone has a kegerator and wants to have a tap handle with it,” he said. “We are seeing an uptick in that.”

Proving what Fruits is seeing in the brewery, eBay is littered with hundreds of tap handles for sale from breweries across the world.

The majority of the tap handles online sell for about $20, though some are listed at nearly $100.